Work hard & Play hard
Do you need a work-life balance?
“The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.” — Stephen Covey.
There are two sides in our life: personal and professional life.
There is a tendency to focus on one side only. We might be more focused on personal life or professional life. However, we need to have a balanced portion of it. Our personal life should support professional life and vice versa. That’s what I call a fulfilling work-life balance.
I know it’s not easy to make a work-life balance, but it is achievable.
I’m adapting a work-life balance right now. The reason is that I know some kids don’t get enough time to gather with their parents. Meanwhile, they need more attention and care from their parents. They need a figure and role model of their world. I can’t imagine if their first role model is another person.
I used to play with my little niece. I knew her very much cause we met almost every day. Even though I had never been a father but I could feel her need for togetherness. She often asked me to play or learn something new. It made me believe that the kids need more quality time with their parents.
We need to work hard to maintain our life. We won’t achieve our dream if we don’t work hard. For me, work hard means able to finish a project. We work hard if we can create something impactful.
But,
We also need smart work and deep work. Smart work helps us finishing a project efficiently and effectively. While deep work encourages us to let go of all negative emotions out during working hours.
To make a work-life balance, I prefer doing fun activities with my family or friends. I usually do a workout after work and playing with my niece. I think the combination of playing and gathering is powerful to refresh our mental health and support our working performance.
“I never do anything half-heartedly. I will continue to work hard and play hard and do everything I can to be successful, whatever I do.” — David Beckham.
Perhaps, we have a different approach to work-life balance. However, you can try to do what I did. We don’t try to mix between work and life. But we try to maximize both sides instead.
To work effectively, we need to focus on what we do. We need to apply hard work, smart work, and deep work.
For example, you have six tasks this week.
You can finish two projects in a day (hard work). You can categorize the type of tasks. The writing task with another writing task. Counting task with another counting task. You prioritize the urgent tasks first (smart work). Then, you do it without any negative emotions (deep work).
When you finish your task, you are ready to calibrate or refresh your mind and body. You can have a conversation with friends, going to nature with friends, watching films with friends, or playing together with your friends or family. The key is you make quality time with them. It is priceless.
So, work-life balance is achievable. We need to find a better way of working. And quality time with friends, family, or a loved one. If you can maximize these two sides, you can achieve a work-life balance.
What is your version of work-life balance?
